1. Field
This disclosure relates to the field of measuring air data parameters.
2. Background Art
Optical fiber amplifiers that receive coherent light of relatively low power from a seed laser and amplify that light with fiber laser amplifiers are known. When such systems are to be used for such applications as target marking, target ranging, imaging, and tracking, and LDV, among others, a primary objective has been to obtain a high power, single mode output, or output with relatively low multimode content. This is particularly difficult because of the necessity of controlling amplified spontaneous emission (ASE), controlling the excitation of unwanted modes, and reducing the effects of non-linearity. One technique that has been proposed includes that of cascaded, pulse-pumped amplifiers where pumping is synchronized with the pulse to be amplified. This approach, however, is limited to relatively low pulse peak powers when compared to conventional solid state lasers that are capable of peak powers in the hundreds of kilowatts to megawatts.